Rina, Ayumi and Hana all fell victim to panic and stress as the mangled corpse collapsed onto the ground. At the same time, the other Enlightened gazed at their dead friend quietly.
It took the siblings less than a second to form a strong wall out of water around themselves and their allies. It was not remotely enough to stop an Enlightened as strong as this one from attacking them, but it would at least slow them slightly.
Instead of feeling fear in their hearts, or worse, running away, the Enlightened gathered around the trio to further protect them from getting killed by another surprise attack. They undoubtedly felt a great amount of anger, grief and sadness, yet they could suppress these emotions for now.
"Don't run or spread out! It will certainly be the cause of your death!"
Rina and Ayumi spoke firmly and loudly to the Enlightened, seemingly without any fear, but in truth they felt great fear in their hearts. Hana was fully defenseless. She would be an easy pick for the attacker.
"Understood!"
The Enlightened screamed with determination. They all seemed too caught up in the moment, and too dense to realize that Hana was doing nothing. She was standing there, rooted like a tree. She neither helped the Enlightened as he died nor did anything after.
In her mind, their death was completely her fault. She could hardly even bear the guilt, and that's the reason for her motionless state.
If they were to find out about Hana's broken soul, a conflict would be inevitable, and it could lead them to stop supporting Hana, but it could also cause them to stop fighting for the first stronghold in the worst-case scenario.
"Waterrrrrrrr?"
A voice erupted from the other side of the water wall. It was deep, meaning that it belonged to a man. The voice seemed to be muffled somehow, but due to not seeing the Enlightened, no one could tell why.
"Identify yourself, now! If you refuse, we will surely murder you!"
Ayumi and Rina screamed intimidatingly. Everyone prepared for a battle after hearing the man's voice, yet nothing happened.
They waited and waited and waited. Then he finally attacked.
It was a quick dash, just like the last, and the attacker touched another Enlightened.
The man's attacks were simply too fast for anyone present to handle properly.
As the Enlightened's body started to decay and rot, they looked at Hana with a begging expression.
"Please, save me, gentle flower… I'm begging you!"
"I-I can't! I'm sorry!"
She could not do anything, and they died. Her body shook, and tears accumulated in her eyes, threatening to flow out. She was supposed to save lives, yet her actions indirectly caused the death of plenty. At that moment, all she wanted to do was die.
The Enlightened became suspicious now, and looked at her with unpleasant gazes.
"Are you on the jade palace's side?! Why didn't you heal them?!"
"Yeah, why didn't you do that?!"
"How dare you let an ally die like this?!"
Before any of them could turn on Hana, and keep on worsening the already terrible situation, Rina and Ayumi acted.
The few that had already spoken up against Hana were killed immediately by them; the others were spared for now.
"How dare any of you speak to her in such a manner? Have you all forgotten that she is far superior to you? Even if she wasn't, we are. She is our master, and we refuse to let such disrespect pass!"
"Would anyone else enjoy being slaughtered like a worthless pig?!"
The expression on their faces was cold and unfeeling. Compared to how much they cared about their master, these Enlightened were nothing to them. Even though they were mad at her for breaking the promise, they would do anything to assure her safety.
After their short outburst, all the Enlightened quieted down. Whether it was due to fear or loyalty didn't matter anymore. As long as they were ready to give their lives for Hana and the twins, they could still win this battle.
Their situation was terrible. The dozen Enlightened were almost reduced by 50% already, Hana was still useless, and close to a mental breakdown, and the siblings were barely able to react to the onslaught of attacks.
Just then, the Attacker finally showed his face.
He jumped through the wall of water, and stood before all of them. This maneuver would be moronic, if not suicidal, because he gave up the element of surprise and exposed himself openly, but it was clear to him that he would not be killed fast enough for him to be unable to react anyway. Now that he had exposed himself, he could also analyze his enemies.
The remaining Enlightened went to the front and created a pathetic and easily destroyed barrier for the twins and Hana to stay behind. The siblings adopted an offensive stance and stood in front of their master with fierce gazes, unwilling to leave her helplessly alone. Only Hana stood there idly.
The Enlightened facing them was a short man, but his exact height was impossible to tell, because his knees were bent, his body was leaning forward and his arms were dangling around freely, almost touching the ground. It seemed similar to the stance a frog would sit in. He had short and spiky black hair, and his eyes were green. He wore a gas mask, which explained the muffle his voice had earlier, and some sort of old and green military wear.
His attire, combined with his looks, and his primary element, allowed Hana, Rina and Ayumi to realize that he was the poison dart frog. His rank was presumed to be 3, but his speed and the fast time to kill of his poison indicated that he was already a rank 4.
"Gentle flowerrrrrrrrrrr…yin and yanggggg."
The poison dart frog murmured under his breath while pointing at them, recognizing them as his main threat.
"Is dragging the last letter supposed to ignite fear in us? How amusing."
Rina and Ayumi spoke as they all faced each other quietly.
"No talking neededdddd. Stop wasting my timeeeeeeee. Dieeeee."
Everyone thought that he was about to strike, but in truth, he remained still.
It was because his attack had already been a success.
The bodies of Rina and Ayumi began to decay.